Former minister of finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has said she regrets not institutionalising the “Whistle Blower” policy during her tenure.

Mrs Adeosun, who was the finance minister from 2015 to 2018, said the whistle-blower policy
 died because she failed to give it legal backing.

The former minister made this known as a keynote speaker at the second edition of the Citadel School of Government (CSG) dialogue series on Saturday in Lagos.

The CSG was founded by Pastor Tunde Bakare.

Delivering a speech on “The Rough Road to Reforms: The risks, the resistance, the reprisals and the resilient leader”, Mrs Adeosun said the federal government’s whistleblowing policy remained one of the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s successful initiatives.

She stated that any government policy without legal backing is easily jettisoned.

“Government policies with legal backing become difficult to change by subsequent administrations that do not like them,” the former minister said.

“Leaders, who are reformers, often faced institutional resistance and must find ways to overcome such obstacles.”

She said that a reformer in leadership must be compassionate and carry people along.

Speaking on corruption, the former minister said it is not peculiar to Nigeria, noting that corruption exists in all parts of the world.

“Nigeria only needs building of strong institutions to correct human behaviour to stamp out corruption,” she said.

Also speaking, Mr Bakare, who is the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), lauded Adeosun for continuing to do great things to benefit Nigeria, “in spite of the fire she faced”.

He described the former minister as a “daughter of God, who made us proud”.

“If Adeosun had not won her case, the stigma would have trailed her.

“It is highly commendable that she came out as minister and no houses or stolen funds were traced to her.”

Mr Bakare said the topic remained germane to prepare those in government and those aspiring to lead to be resilient and think through the reforms they would be bringing in.

“Reforms may not usher in an immediate change, but there is always a need to remain focused and not chase shadows,” he said.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the CSG, Mr Omoaholo Omoakhalen, said the dialogue series was developed to bring in people who have served in government to share their experiences.

“Adeosun was chosen to speak on reforms to aid current and emerging leaders as Nigeria still needs so many more reforms across the board,” he added. 

(NAN)